


Of Letters and Last Names

by Zoa



Series: Niima Outpost [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: 1860s, Alternate Universe - Western, F/M, Fluff, Guns, Mention of gun violence, Western, established finnrose, rey has a thing for ben's handwriting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 04:36:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20186359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoa/pseuds/Zoa
Summary: In the tiny post office of Niima Outpost, Rey comes across a letter with the most beautiful handwriting she's ever seen.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally supposed to be a text fic on twitter but it got away from me and is now a short story. Hope y'all enjoy! I didn't do a lot of editing so I apologize for any mistakes.

A sigh slipped from her lips as Rey beheld the envelope, admiring how the recipient’s address had been written in a beautiful, swirling scrawl. It could have been art. Not that Rey had seen much art, but she thought it nonetheless. 

But there was no return address, no name to give her a clue as to who had written it. 

“Unkar,” she called and received an irritated grunt in return from the back but she ignored it. “Do you know the sender of this letter?”

“Why the hell do you care?” The burly shop owner growled as he appeared from the backroom. 

“Just curious, I suppose,” Rey murmured. “Whoever it is has beautiful handwriting…” 

Maybe it was because she could barely write her own name, but the fact that anyone could write like that was nothing short of a miracle. 

Unkar peered over her shoulder at the letter and Rey had to hold her breath to keep from inhaling his rank stench. She would swear on the Bible he’d never had a bath in his life. 

“Huh. I think that came from the new owner of Falcon Ranch, out there east of town… can’t think of his name now. Anyway, put it in the box, girl. It’s not your job to ogle people’s letters.”

That was rich coming from someone who routinely checked those letters for money. 

If she’d spoken the thought aloud she might have gotten a good slap but as she kept her mouth tightly closed Unkar only rolled away toward the grocery counter, done with the conversation. 

The bell on the door to the only post office and grocer in tiny Niima Outpost - the only town for miles in the barely explored Jakku Desert - tinkled brightly and Rey looked up as a new customer walked in. 

Armitage Hux, the local banker, tipped his bowler hat to Rey as he walked past her counter and headed toward where Unkar kept the tobacco. She huffed and slid the letter into the out-going box. He was a prick and she didn’t make any secret of her dislike. Not when he kept leering at and flirting with her any chance he got. Even in church, the heathen bastard. 

There wasn’t a good person, man or woman, in the town as far as Rey was concerned. 

Maybe the new owner of Falcon Ranch would be different, but even as she thought it she dismissed it. That place was rundown and useless and no one who wanted it could possibly be doing anything good with it. No one who came to Niima Outpost had good motives. 

It was a veritable hive of scum and villainy.

****

Two days later Rey was cataloguing the mail supplies when a man approached the counter and slipped a letter across to her. 

“Excuse me, miss. Is it possible for this letter to go out tomorrow?” 

Rey, who hadn’t bothered looking up, glanced at the letter and saw the same beautiful script as the one she’d asked Unkar about. Her head shot up, thinking the customer must be the new owner of Falcon Ranch. 

The man in front of her didn’t look like a person who’d fit into Niima society, that was for sure. He had warm brown eyes and his face was lit with a friendly smile. He wore a brown, fringe jacket better fit for a Kentucky homestead but besides that he was dressed in the usual frontier style men favored. 

“Um, yes, we’re expecting the express tomorrow,” she replied slowly, reaching for the letter, eyeing the new neighbor carefully. 

The stranger’s face brightened even more somehow. “Good. My boss’ll be glad to hear it.We just moved in to Falcon Ranch, y’see, and he’s still got some dealings goin’ on back east.”

This one offered up a lot of information without prompting, Rey thought. Too much, probably, and considering where he was that was a dangerous habit. People took advantage of that sort of person in Niima Outpost. 

And Rey had never claimed to be perfect.

  
“So you didn’t write this?” She asked, holding the letter up.

The stranger knit his brows in confusion. “No, why?”

Heat suffused her cheeks and Rey shrugged noncommittally. Apparently she wasn’t good at being devious. “No reason. Just curious.”

“My boss writes em’. I just deliver em’. I’m Finn. Finn Stormman.” He extended his hand to her and Rey, though taken aback for a second, accepted. His grip was firm.  


“I’m Rey.” She replied. When he looked at her expecting a surname she added quickly: “just Rey.” 

No one had thought to give her a last name. A fact she’d hadn’t really been self-conscious over until now. 

But Finn didn’t seem phased by it. “Nice to meet you, Rey,” he said and Rey’s mouth tugged up in a rare smile. 

Maybe there was at least one decent person in Niima. 

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Rey paused, and her curiosity won out again and she blurted: “so, you’re not the new owner of Falcon Ranch?” 

_Not the person who had written the beautiful letters. _

“Oh no,” Finn chuckled, but somehow Rey knew it wasn’t at her but over something else. “That’s my boss, Ben Solo.” 

"Ben Solo.” Rey repeated the name slowly, lingering on ‘Ben’. It was a nice name. A good, strong Biblical name. “I only ask because there was no return address on the last letter he sent. I see he’s rectified that,” she murmured the last bit, having finally looked at the letter and observed his name neatly swirled in the corner of the envelope. 

“Ah, yes. He was a mite irritated about that. Actually this one,” he pointed at the letter, “is being sent to fix that issue.”

“I see.” Rey nodded. The receiver was the same person as the last one, she noticed: Leia Organa-Solo. Judging by the last name she was either his wife or his mother. Probably wife waiting for the summons to join him. 

Good luck to them both, Rey thought wryly. 

“Well, I gotta go finish up my duties,” Finn announced but he lingered. “Say, you’re the first friendly face I’ve come across in this town… Do you mind if I give your name to my wife? She’s been feeling a little lost since we moved and could use a friend. We both could.”

Again surprised, Rey could only blink for a moment. He wanted to be her friend. From the open look on Finn’s face Rey could tell there wasn’t an ulterior motive (she hoped he would never play poker because he would definitely lose).

A friend. Two friends, from the sounds of it. Another smile appeared on her face and Rey found herself nodding. 

“Yes. I’d like that.”

****

Finn’s wife appeared in the store the next day, much sooner than Rey had expected. She was shorter than Rey, had coal-black hair and round, pink cheeks that exemplified her name: Rose. 

Despite being complete strangers, the two women got along like they’d known each other their whole lives. At that first meeting Rose invited Rey over for refreshments after church on Sunday and Rey accepted eagerly. 

It was while she was sitting with Rose in her and Finn’s cozy house that Sunday that she learned a little more of the mysterious man who could write so beautifully. She had commented on the lovely home they had, a brand new one-story at the edge of town, only thirty minutes from the ranch and ten from the center of Niima Outpost. 

“Yes, Mr. Solo was generous enough to provide this place for Finn and I,” Rose said, sitting on a small settee across from Rey’s hand-me-down armchair. She took a sip from the coffee cup in her hands before continuing. “He’s been really generous with all of his employees. I suppose because he knows it’s quite the sacrifice to move so far.”

Rey thoughtfully took a sip from her own cup. So Ben Solo was a magnanimous man. That was quite the change from the greedy characters she knew. 

“He’s been through some trials, though,” Rose continued. “I suppose that’s why he’s so kind.”

“What do you mean?” Rey asked, curiosity piqued. 

Rose scrunched her nose up and thought a moment, considering her words carefully, it seemed. “He ran with some bad people for awhile. Nearly got him killed. He did lose someone close…” she trailed off with a frown. 

“Who?” Rey prodded, in a way that was a little too curious to be a polite inquiry. 

Her new friend blushed deeply. “I really shouldn’t talk about his life without his say.” 

Rey’s face reddened as well. She didn’t what her problem was or why she needed to know so much about the mysterious Ben Solo. He had beautiful hand writing, that’s all she knew. She didn’t really have a right to anything more. 

But still. There was something about that elegant script. A man who wrote like that, like he was composing poetry even for a list of groceries, and who gave his employees a house didn’t make sense to be living in Niima Outpost. 

She wouldn’t believe he existed until she saw him. 

The next day Finn delivered another letter from Ben Solo. Same address as the previous two. He left in a hurry - apparently it was a busy Monday for Falcon Ranch. 

But he bought some candy for Rose. Lemon drops. Her favorite.

As Rey turned to put the letter in the out-going box as she should, she noticed that the envelope wasn’t completely sealed and could see a peek of Ben Solo’s lovely scrawl inside. 

Rey looked around, chewing her lower lip. A strong temptation drew her to disappear into the back room and take out the letter from its envelope. 

The manuscript on the inside was covered in the hand that she now knew so well, but in so many different words and new letters that exhibited the calligraphic style he used. 

Though she knew it was wrong - she was no better than Unkar, really, invading Ben Solo’s privacy - Rey let her eyes wander over the letter, picking up phrases here and there with her limited reading skill (no schooling, just Unkar teaching her the basics so she could work): 

_“…but I think that will come with time. You’d hate it here, mother. It’s too hot and there’s sand everywhere…”_

Mother. So Leia Organa-Solo was his mother. For a reason she couldn’t fathom, Rey was relieved. She snorted at the bit on sand. That was true. At the end of every day there was always sand in her boots, even if she only went from her meager room above the shop to the local blacksmith. 

_“All the same,” the letter continued, “I have to thank Uncle Luke for finding this place. I feel closer to…” _Rey could tell the writer had hesitated on the next words, a bit more ink on the ‘o’ than there should have been, _“to dad. Like he left a piece of himself here, I guess. It’s odd, but not unwelcome.”_

His father. He must have been the one Rose meant. 

The intimacy and seriousness of the topic almost made Rey put the letter back into its envelope, but her eyes caught Finn’s name and she skipped down to that part of the page. 

_“Finn says I should go into town, see the people, explore the place. He says the shop there is nice. Says it carries ink and such that I would like. Rose tells me it would be a good diversion after all the work on this place. I think I might go tomorrow. It’d be nice to get off the ranch for awhile.”_

Tomorrow. Rey checked the date on the letter and saw it as that day. Which meant that she would see Ben Solo herself in twenty-four hours.

For some reason the idea that he would appear in the flesh filled her with excitement as much as trepidation. 

What would he be like? Tall? Short? Young? Old? His lovely handwriting was steady and neat, and his mother was still alive, so probably young. But of course that wasn’t a sure thing. There was an old man who’d lived in Jakku awhile back who could lug fifty-pound barrels around like they were a sack of flour, and he was nigh on eighty-five and his dear mother had been one hundred and twenty when she died. 

“Rey! You lazy cow, where’re you at?” 

Unkar was back. And drunk as a skunk from the sound of it. 

Rey quickly folded and slipped the letter back into its envelope and licked the seam to reseal it. She didn’t realize until after she was done that Solo had probably done the same and blushed deeply at what she thought might be considered an intimate action, had it been witnessed. 

As she exited the back room she placed the letter into the proper box, only once looking back at it before rushing to obey Unkar’s demanding shouts. 

Tomorrow. She would see him tomorrow. 

****

For reasons beyond her, Rey wore her Sunday dress to work. She had been going to leave her hair in a half up-do, but shook that whimsical thought from her mind and tied it into her usual three-buns. 

Ben Solo wasn’t going to care how her hair looked. 

He probably wasn’t even going to notice or care about her beyond her job as the postal worker. 

And why did she want him to? She had no idea what he looked like or even who he really was. All she had was testimony from Rose and Finn and a few snippets stolen from a private letter. 

Not enough to determine a man’s character.

Nonetheless she was on pins and needles throughout the morning and into the early afternoon. But as the sun made its way past noon and the only people who’d visited the shop were locals well known to her, Rey grew more and more disappointed. 

He wasn’t going to come. There were a multitude of reasons why he wouldn’t. He ran a ranch, for goodness sake. Not even Finn came in every day, nor Rose. 

So Rey shook thoughts of Ben Solo from her head and went about her business. Hux came in at one point and tried flirting with her but she told him she was too busy to talk. She’d done so before but he hadn’t gotten the clue then and probably wouldn’t this time, but at least she could escape him temporarily.

The excuse this time was a real reason, something Unkar had told her to do. Check the candy supplies and make a mark on what they needed to order.While Rey was in the back room double checking the shop’s peppermint candy supplies, the bell above the door rang again and heavy boots approached the mail counter. Thinking it was Hux back for another try, Rey sighed heavily and peeked outside. 

Instead of the insufferable Hux, she saw a slightly taller man was there, dressed in dark clothing and a long, black coat which seemed incredibly impractical for the desert sun. He wore a black stetson too, completing the mysterious stranger motif he’d apparently decided on. 

As she watched him, he looked around the shop and she saw his face. 

While he wasn’t conventionally handsome, there was an asymmetrical beauty to his face that Rey couldn’t help desiring to examine further. The only blemish she could see was a long scar that dissected the right side of his face. He was paler than the moon on a dark night, which was a miracle in that part of the country. After one day in the Jakku Desert you had a tan that would last the rest of your life. The sun buried itself into the skin like a prairie dog dug a new home. 

Rey tilted her head to the side, attempting to place the stranger before the epiphany struck her that he might be the very person she’d been waiting for the entire day. 

A roiling filled her gut and her hands shook as she retreated back into the room for a few seconds. Pressing a hand to her bodice, she took a few deep breaths to steady herself.

Ben Solo. It had to be. 

She looked around the corner again and saw him still peering around the shop, searching for someone to help him. 

Oh, right. Unkar was back at the saloon. She was the only someone. 

Straightening her back and lifting her chin, Rey strode out of the supply room and slipped behind the mail counter. She rested her hands on the counter, clasped tightly together, before she raised her eyes to her customer. 

Intriguing from far away. Up close he was, in a word, remarkable. 

Deep brown eyes that portrayed an older soul than his 30-some years peered back at her from under his Stetson, widening slightly as they fell on her. From Rey’s new position, with only a foot of counter between them, she could see the moles that peppered his face in haphazard constellations and had the ridiculous desire to connect them with her fingers. She noticed that the scar ran from his face to his neck and disappeared underneath the collar of his shirt. A saber had done that for sure - he must have fought in the war that had torn the country asunder only a few years ago. A wound like should have killed him and Rey repressed a shiver at the kind of fortitude which allowed a man to survive such an injury. Full lips that made the word ‘kissable’ pop into Rey’s head completed the tall stranger in front of her. 

“Can you help me?” 

His voice was somehow booming and soft at the same time and seemed to fit the rest of the paradoxes that made up Ben Solo, including the large hands that appeared from inside his coat pockets. Rey’s eyes widened as she stared at them, disbelieving that they could hold a pen so gently and gracefully as to create the refined scrawl of his letters. As she continued to stare, fully forgetting the few manners she knew, he cleared his throat loudly and when she raised her head noticed a pink tinge to his face.

“Miss?”

“What?” Rey croaked. Her throat was dry and she swallowed and tried again, forcing herself to be professional. “I’m sorry, sir. What can I do for you?”

Ben Solo awkwardly shoved a letter at her and asked gruffly: “Will you send this off for me?”

“Yes… yes.” Rey nodded in jerky movements and took the letter with an unsteady hand. She saw that it was addressed to someone new this time, someone named Poe Dameron. “I can, Mr. Solo.”

“How do you know my name?” He asked sharply and Rey nearly jumped. 

“I… I know Finn and Rose,” Rey answered blankly. He seemed to relax but then a frown appeared on his face. “And your name is on this letter…” she added, guessing that he was wondering how she knew _he_ was Ben Solo. 

For a beat there was silence as Rey slipped the envelope into the out-going pile. 

“What’s your name?” Solo asked quietly, lingering at the counter despite his business being done. Rey smoothed out imaginary lines on her forest green Sunday dress as she avoided his gaze, which was now watching her every movement. 

“Rey,” she replied as quietly. 

“Just Rey?” 

“Just Rey.”

“Is your surname unpronounceable?” 

“No.” Rey scowled. “I don’t have one.”

He tilted his head to the side, in a way that reminded her of a confused puppy.

“What do you mean? Everyone has a last name.”

Rey clenched her teeth. “I _don’t._”

“No last name?” He sounded so incredulous, like it was absolutely ridiculous and that of course she had a surname, who _didn’t _have a surname except for the strangest of people? 

Rey flushed angrily. “No,” she snapped back. “I don’t have a last name because I don’t know who my parents are and I wasn’t given one when I was abandoned as a child in this godforsaken town. Satisfied?”

She didn’t feel so bad for reading his letter now, the tactless bastard. 

He blinked a few times and then had the decency to look ashamed. 

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I shouldn’t have pressed you. I meant no offense.”

Rey pressed her lips together and crossed her arms defensively. This meeting hadn’t gone the way she thought it might. The way he was looking at her now, like a man eyeing a wild animal, made her snort. He should be scared. She’d lived her entire life not knowing who she was or why she was there. She’d had to fight for every meal, earn her bed, and ward off evil men. 

She was stronger than he knew and all the more for not having a lineage.

“Don’t be so rude the next time you meet someone.” She ordered. “Especially here. Questions like that might get you shot.”

Solo’s eyes widened but there was twinkle of amusement in them. “You didn’t shoot me,” he observed. Rey’s brows shot up. He got over being called out for being a prick easily. Quite the ego on this one, she thought. 

“No,” she said slowly and reached under the counter, hauling up the shotgun she kept there just in case Hux got a little frisky. It was never loaded but he didn’t need to know that. “But I could have.”

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, surprising Rey all the more, and warming her, much to her chagrin. He had a disarming smile that was both boyish and roguish at the same time. 

“I’m glad you didn’t,” he said. “A desert grocer isn’t where I’d like to die.”

“Have that planned out, do you?”

He shrugged. “Nah, I just know where I _don’t_ want it to happen.”

Rey shook her head. “You’re a strange man.”

“Yes, yes I am.” He smiled again and Rey’s pulse quickened. “It was nice to meet you, Miss Rey. Hopefully our next meeting will be less, uh, life-threatening.” He tipped his hat and walked out, Rey watching him all the way, even going to the windows of the store to see where he went. 

He mounted a stark black stallion tethered outside the shop and, with one more look at the shop, spurred the animal down the street toward his ranch. 

Rey blew out a breath and turned, slumping against the window. 

A smile lifted her mouth and she bit back a giggle. 

So that was Ben Solo. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for all the lovely comments and the kudos! They honestly mean the world!
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy the end to this little tale of mine! 
> 
> (I have to admit, I'm a little sad it's ending. I may have to revisit this sometime.)

The next week, instead of Finn delivering the latest missive from the Solo homestead, the writer himself strode into the little grocer and deposited the note meant for his mother. 

Rey and he were cordial with each other. Rey asked him how things on the ranch were and he asked her in turn how the store was, what news she heard from the mail delivery coach, etc. 

It was awkward, if Rey was to be honest. But when he turned to leave, a discouraged expression on his face, Rey called him back and shoved a bundle of stamps into his hand. 

For being such a good customer, she’d said, and smiled shyly. 

After that he was back every two days. 

And Rey found herself looking forward to each visit. 

They would talk while he pretended to peruse the shop’s wares. She could tell he was only pretending because he wouldn’t be looking at the items when he picked them up, but at her. 

He always left with something, ink or a new pen. Rey began to wonder what his collection looked like - so many of the same pens in one drawer, she mused. 

Rose was right, too, when she’d called him kind. Before he left after each visit, he’d buy a package of candy and hand the pieces out to the children in Niima who routinely played outside the shop. And a bag of peppermints for his horse. Rey didn’t know if she’d ever seen such a spoiled animal. She would see Silencer - a strange name for a horse if ever she’d heard one - snuffle at Solo’s pockets and inevitably find the bag. Solo would laugh and smile and Rey’s heart would flip in her chest. 

Sometimes Hux would come in, see her conversing with Solo, and make an about face with a sour look. Rey couldn’t help feeling a little more attached to the new rancher just for driving the ginger nuisance away. 

They weren’t bothered by Unkar much, either. In his old age he’d taken to being at the saloon more often than the shop, leaving it in Rey’s more than capable hands. More capable than his, in any case. 

As a result many days went by when she and Ben Solo were the only two in the shop for hours at a time. 

Their growing friendship aside, every week like clockwork he would have a new letter or two for his mother or someone else back east. One time he told her about his mother, without much prompting. She lived in Chandrila with his uncle (something Rey had guessed at based on her brief study of his letter, which she didn’t tell him about).

“My mother is a strong woman. She’s been through hell and back and still stands tall,” he told Rey with pride on that day, about a month into their new acquaintance. They were both leaning on the mail counter, facing each other. It was a position Rey hadn’t noticed them doing it until about the third time it happened. But she didn’t say a word. She liked it.

“What about your father?” Rey asked cautiously, curiosity born on her snooping making her bold. A dark look passed over his face and he stiffened. She regret asking. “I’m sorry,” she pulled back, ashamed. “I shouldn’t pry.”

“It’s fine.” His eye twitched, a clue that he was feeling heavy emotions that Rey had picked up on in recent days. “He’s… he’s gone. Dead. A while ago. My fault.”

A deep scowl etched itself onto Rey’s face. “What do you mean?”

“He…” Ben paused and considered her for a moment. She could tell he was trying to decide something. His face was blank for a second and then settled into a resolved expression. “He was trying to help me,” he said. “I was going with some bad people. I was stubborn and wouldn’t leave them. There was a firefight. He got shot. Killed. It was my fault.”

“Ben,” she breathed (after she’d referred to him as Mr. Solo again, he’d grimaced and told her to call him Ben - she hadn’t needed to be told twice). She reached forward and grasped his arm. “I’m sorry.”

He smiled wanly. “So am I.” He sighed and his gaze focused on the counter, as he scratched at a piece of loose wood with a finger. “I loved my father, y’know. Isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about how I could have done differently that day. I guess that’ll always be the case. Like I said, it’s my fault. I know it. My mother knows it. Maybe that’s why I came out here,” he gestured vaguely. “I couldn’t stand how she looked at me. Like…” he swallowed. “Well, like I reminded her of him, but not in the good way.”

Rey’s throat thickened at the pain in his voice and her fingers tightened their grip on his arm. 

“He used to live here,” Ben cleared his throat. “Falcon Ranch belonged to him once. I guess I thought, maybe, if I made it what it once was, that might atone somehow for what I did. Maybe.” His eyes flicked up to hers and then away, as if he was ashamed, like she’d think differently of him now. 

Rey supposed she did. But not in the way he thought.

There was silence for a moment. 

“Do you want to know something?” Rey asked softly and Ben raised his head, eyeing her warily. “Do you know how I first learned of you?”

He shook his head slowly. Rey leaned forward a little more and smiled. 

“Your letters.”

Ben’s face contorted in utter confusion and Rey bit back a laugh. 

“I never sent you anything!” He protested. Rey rolled her eyes. 

“No, but you sent your mother plenty,” she replied and understanding lit his face. “I saw how beautiful you wrote and knew - I just knew - that someone who could write so wonderfully couldn’t be bad. At least, not all bad.”

Ben tilted his head and a crooked smile appeared on his face. “That’s quite the romantic notion you have there, Miss Rey.”

Rey scowled and straightened. “If you’re going to make fun of me-” 

“No, no, no,” he shook his head and reached for her hands, pulling her back down. “I would never do that. I’m sorry. I’m better on paper than I am speaking. You’re…” he took a breath, “good, Rey. Too good for the likes of me.” His thumbs stroked her knuckles as he spoke and Rey shivered at the contact. “I’m a person who doesn’t deserve that goodness. Or forgiveness.”

“I’m no better than you,” she whispered. “No one is. There’s not a person on this earth worthy of forgiveness. That’s why it’s _given_. It’s a gift.”

Ben looked at her in wonder and his hands tightened around hers, but not painfully. In a way that made her think she was his anchor and that if he let go, he’d drift away and be lost. He seemed to be begging her to let him hold her, just for a little while. 

So she let him. They were together until closing time, when Unkar returned and the sun was setting and Ben had to leave to get back to the ranch before dark. 

Rey did not sleep that night, her mind thinking of all the other ways she wanted him to hold her. 

****

The bell rang and Rey eagerly finished stacking up the cans of beans and wiped her hands on her dress. Ben was back. Instead of the usual day and half separation, it had been a full week since their last talk and she’d missed him more than she’d expected, especially since she’d only known him for a short time. When she saw Finn and Rose at church, Finn had said things had just gotten busy on the ranch. Rey pretended not to be disappointed and dismissed the shared knowing look Finn and Rose had passed each other. 

But when Rey emerged from the back room it was Hux waiting at the mail counter instead of Ben. 

She should have known that a month of Hux’s blessed absence was too good to be true.

“Mr. Hux,” she greeted primly as she took her place behind the counter. “What can I do for you?”

He looked around mildly. “The lumbering rancher isn’t here, I see.”

Rey pressed her lips together tightly before answering, needing a moment to refrain from cussing Hux out and causing a scene. “No,” she finally said. “Though I expect he should be here soon. It’s his day to send letters.” She hoped he’d be there soon. 

The ginger man grunted and shook his head in disapproval. “He’s taking up so much of your time,” he said in a melancholy way that had Rey rolling her eyes. “I’m sure you must be bore of him by now. He can’t possibly be a good conversationalist.” 

“Well, he doesn’t constantly talk about himself, if that’s what you mean,” Rey replied with a sweet smile. The dig hit its mark but Hux rolled his shoulders proudly, reminding Rey of a vulture preening itself, and recovered. 

“All the same, surely you want for better company. Perhaps I can tempt you with dinner?” He reached forward and took her hand in his. When she tried to pull away, his grip tightened, keeping her there. Rey huffed out a breath. 

“Mr. Hux, I’ve already told you, I’m not interested. Besides, the only place for dinner around here is the damn saloon and that is the last place I want to go.” The fingers of her other hand wrapped themselves around the shotgun beneath the counter. While she couldn’t shoot him, she could slam it against his hand. Rey almost hoped he’d pull something so she could do just that. 

“Oh, come now,” he rolled his eyes. “It’s not that bad. And I know the owner,” he added a sly look appearing on his face. “I could get us a private space…”

Rey’s fingers tightened around the gun and she opened her mouth to give him an adamant and absolute negative when the bell announced another customer. She looked up, ready to thank them and their parents for birthing them, but saw a surprised Ben standing there. His eyes went straight for Hux’s grip on Rey’s hand and she quickly yanked her hand away. But Ben didn’t see. He’d turned abruptly and departed the store. She could see him striding to his horse. 

“Ben!” She called and made to go after him, but the red-headed nuisance grabbed her arm. 

“Let him go,” he purred. “Obviously he knows a better man when he-”

“Let go of me and and get the fuck out.” Rey spoke in a low, calm way, eyes unblinking as they stared at Hux. The man drew back and a scared expression appeared on his face. 

“Excuse me?”

“Get the fuck out.” Rey repeated. “Do I need to say it a third time, Hux?”

He stared at her for about thirty seconds, apparently weighing his options, before deciding to obey her. He sniffed and muttered something under his breath about ungrateful miscreant women as he walked out of the shop. Rey was quick to run to the windows, searching for Ben, but, as she suspected, he was long gone. 

It was hard to believe that one encounter with Hux had scared him off, but maybe he wasn’t as sure of his feelings as she was of hers. 

She’d never actually said it. That she loved him. Of course, she’d only realized it after the conversation about his father. And he’d never given an indication that he might feel the same way. But she’d thought…

With a heavy heart Rey resumed her position at the counter, preparing herself for the inevitability that Ben would never visit her again. 

****

The next day was a slow day for the shop - not that any of the other days were booming, but it was late afternoon and not a soul had been seen. Not even old Mrs. Mothma had come in on her daily constitution. 

Unkar was at the saloon again, drowning himself in drink and cards, no doubt. 

Rey sniffed and popped another cherry candy in her mouth as she perused the latest ladies fashion catalogue that had come in with the last express. While it wasn’t her favorite activity, it kept her mind off of Ben. She was in the anger stage now, wondering what the hell he’d been thinking, running out like that. He knew she detested Hux. What did he think had been happening?

The door to the shop burst open with a tremendous bang and Rey yelped, accidentally spitting the cherry candy out of her mouth. She ran around the grocer counter to see who the hell had nearly broken the door and saw the last person she expected: Ben. 

He looked absolutely wrecked. He was hatless, his thick hair was mussed, and he had circles under his eyes. His clothes looked slept in, or at least like he’d lain down in them but had tossed and turned wildly. 

He strode over to her and stopped short, so that they were nearly touching, chest heaving like he’d run from the ranch on his own two feet. Rey had to crane her neck up to find his eyes. To find they were already looking at her with a brightness she’d not seen before and which made her toes curl. His head tilted down slightly, his eyes grazing her lips and she parted them, breath heavy, ready for him to take what he wanted. Wanting it herself.

But he didn’t.

Instead Ben raised his right hand and shoved a crumpled piece of paper at her. Rey grasped it automatically and when he was sure she had it, Ben turned and strode out of the shop, leaving Rey gaping after him. 

She glanced at the paper and up to the open door and Ben’s fading figure then back to the paper. It was folded like a letter and had her name on it, written in Ben’s hand. Rey opened it, confused and hurt but mostly confused. 

Until she read the contents. 

There before her eyes, in Ben’s beautiful, scrawling, elegant calligraphy was a marriage proposal. 

Without a second thought Rey picked up her skirts and sprinted after him. She caught him in a few seconds. 

She grabbed his arm and spun him around to shake the letter in his bewildered face. 

“Do you mean it?” she gasped and placed a hand on her stomach to steady herself. Ben swallowed and nodded. 

Rey grinned and grabbed his face in her hands, hauling him down so she could kiss him. It didn’t take long for him to respond and his arms wrapped around her tightly. But only a second later he pulled away and cast a wary glance on her. 

“Wait, is that a yes?”

Rey rolled her eyes but was all smiles and tears as she nodded. “If you need me to say it fully then: yes, Ben Solo, I will marry you.”

She didn’t have long to enjoy his responding grin because he captured her lips again and kissed her in a way that she was sure Pastor Ackbar would disapprove of. 

Indeed, it had been such a spectacle that people talked of it even after Ben and Rey’s wedding two weeks later. But Rey couldn’t care less. She could - and would - kiss him in any manner she wanted. Especially now that she was married to him.

****

When next Ben wrote his mother, telling her of his new marriage, he convinced Rey to write a line or two as well. Her letters were stilted, but neat as she expressed her happiness to be in the family. He finished with a promise that they would visit his mother soon.

Then Ben signed it and handed the pen to Rey, who took it with shaking hands and placed the pen to the paper again, this time to sign her name. 

Her new name. 

_Rey Solo._

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hello on [twitter](https://twitter.com/StarToured) or [tumblr](https://zoawrites.tumblr.com/) !


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